DURHAM – With league-leading Boston College idle Saturday night, the University of New Hampshire hockey team had a chance to move into a first-place tie with the Eagles in the Hockey East standings by beating Merrimack.

The Wildcats squandered the opportunity, however, with a 4-1 loss at the Whittemore Center, snapping their modest two-game win streak.

With the victory, the Warriors clinched the season series with UNH, 2-1.

The third-ranked Wildcats outshot Merrimack, 52-24, including 40-16 over the last two periods, but 6-foot-4 goalie Sam Marotta came up with a career-high 51 saves.

“I told the team it’s a crazy game sometimes,” said UNH coach Dick Umile. “You can’t always go by the number of shots, but I thought we had plenty of Grade A chances. Their goalie played well. We couldn’t get it by him.”

The only shot that eluded Marotta was a deflection by Jeff Silengo at 12:52 of the second period to pull UNH (15-7-2, 11-6-1 HE) within one at 2-1.

“I think we made a few mistakes that ended up in the back of our net,” said senior forward Austin Block. “We could have done that better. We’re not perfect. It wasn’t lack of effort, that’s for sure. I don’t think anyone’s discouraged. It’s frustrating but it’s just one of those things you have to put behind you. Next weekend’s going to be tough (against Providence). We’ve got to get focused on that.”

The Warriors (12-10-5, 10-6-2 HE) answered Silengo’s goal later in the period and Marotta did the rest from there.

Despite outshooting the Warriors, 32-17, over the first two periods, including 20-9 in the second, UNH trailed 3-1.

“I thought we played pretty good,” said junior forward Dalton Speelman. “Consistency and momentum are key, but we worked hard. We put up 50 shots. That’s pretty good shooting in a game. We’re playing pretty well, we’ve just got to figure out a way to get the puck in the back of the net.”

Shawn Bates scored twice for Merrimack to give the visitors a 2-0 lead by the 8:50 mark of the second period before Silengo put the Wildcats on the board with an extra-attacker goal at 12:52.

UNH capitalized on a delayed penalty to Merrimack’s Brendan Ellis for holding with Silengo tipping in Scott Pavelski’s shot from the right circle for his second goal of the season.

Nick Sorkin also assisted.

The Warriors got that one back on a power-play goal by Vinny Scotti with 3:58 remaining in the second period and UNH’s John Henrion in the box for high-sticking.

“We had a ton of chances,” Block said. “A few questionable penalties hurt us. Their goalie played well and we didn’t find a way to get it past him.”

Speelman had a couple of quality scoring chances in the second period but came up empty. One of his attempts labeled for the top right corner was reviewed, but ruled no goal.

“I didn’t get a great handle on (the puck) but I took the shot,” he said. “I think it hit the corner of the post. It came off at a weird angle. I didn’t really see it after I took the shot. I was off-balance. It came out kind of funny.”

Speelman had another opportunity with 16.3 seconds left in the period with UNH on a power play. He was denied by Marotta from in tight as he was being taken down by a Merrimack defender.

No penalty was called on the play.

“When you have a goalie that size stopping pucks he doesn’t see it’s a pretty good sign he’s in position,” said Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy.

Merrimack’s Mike Collins added an empty-net goal with 1:19 left.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Speelman said. “We didn’t take away the goalies eyes as well as we should have maybe.”

“Marotta played a very good game,” Umile said. “Some shots I believe he didn’t see, but he was in position to make the save.”

Despite outshooting Merrimack in the first period, 12-8, the Wildcats trailed 1-0 after one.

Bates scored the goal at 6:18 when his shot from the left circle to the short side appeared to hit goalie Casey DeSmith’s stick and deflect up and in.

“It’s just disappointing,” Umile said, “because I thought the guys played hard and have nothing to show for it. It’s a missed opportunity by us.